PORTLAND, Maine - The long-awaited results of an investigation into Portland's deadliest fire in more than 40 years were released today. Six people died in the blaze at 20 Noyes Street this past November.
And while investigators say the cause was accidental, the building's landlord could still find himself facing criminal charges.
Nearly three months after the deadly Noyes Street fire, an investigation led by the State Fire Marshal's Office, with the help of the Portland Fire and Police Departments, as well as federal ATF agents, confirms that a cigarette butt was the culprit.
"The fire originated in a smoking receptacle located on the porch of the dwelling," said Portland Fire Chief Jerome LaMoria, at a City Hall news conference Wednesday morning. LaMoria said a large plastic ash tray was being improperly used and caught fire in the early hours of Nov. 1.
LaMoria said a number of factors then came together to make the blaze such a lethal one: the proximity of combustible materials - including a wooden floor, furniture on the porch and recycling containers; a front door left open - allowing the fire to spread inside the building; and an absence of working smoke detectors, so that by the time the fire was discovered, the front entrance was engulfed in flames and impassable.
"All of these aspects of this fire, a great tragedy for the city of Portland, were all tied to some type of human behavior," said state Fire Marshal Joseph Thomas. "Where the smoking was done in relationship to the residents was human driven; the fact that a front door was open, allowing the fire to enter the premises from the porch, was human driven; the fact that smoke detectors were disabled was human-driven."
Thomas says 26 people died in fires last year in Maine - making it the worst year for fire deaths in more than two decades.
While the cause of the Noyes Street incident has been found to be accidental, Chief LaMoria says the full investigative report is being forwarded to the District Attorney's office for review.
"The reason for it to be forwarded to the district attorney is that, based upon an after-the-fact inspection that was conducted, there are questions about the legal use of that building and how it was being utilized," LaMoria said.
Which likely means more questions for landlord Greg Nisbet about whether the building was being operated as a boarding house or a single family home, and whether he was following the proper fire code.
Nisbet already faces two civil lawsuits for negligence from family members of some of those who died. Ashley Summers, 25, of Rockland is one of those taking legal action. "My kids don't have a dad now," she says. "So it's beyond heartbreaking for all the families, including my own."
Summers lost her husband, Steven, who was 29, in the Noyes Street fire. He had been visiting friends in Portland the night before and decided to stay the night. Although she was not present at the fire, Ashley Summers says she has nightmares about it every night, and constantly worries how she's going to explain the tragedy to her daughters, aged 3 and 5, as they grow up and ask more questions.
"At the end of the day, everything together created this tragedy, and whether it's tenants or landlords, I hope everybody takes notice," she says.
The city of Portland has taken notice. A special task force was convened in the wake of the Noyes Street fire to look into the issue of fire prevention, and it's due to make final recommendations to the city next month.
An attorney for landlord Greg Nisbet told MPBN that his client has no comment to make at this time.